I don't think modding is an age based obsession, I see plenty of 20 year olds running stock and plenty of us middle aged car nuts chasing every hp we can find.
For me, this is my midlife crisis car, only I'm both frugal and a little on the hippie side, so instead of a Camero I got a little red econobox and turned it into a little sleeper sportscar. Sure, I know it's not really a sports car, but it does get 40mpg (if I drive carefully, which I don't) and it does give me a kick in the pants when I push it.
I don't need a dyno to tell me the difference between what I've done and stock, because I'm not trying to impress you, I'm trying to please myself. This means that I mildly regret the intake and the exhaust, they didn't give me a difference I could feel. This means I really love the tune, the flexfuel conversion, and the upgraded turbocharger; they each meant a nice step up in seat-of-the-pants dyno power.
I do have Torque Pro and Ultraguage to give me some non-biased data, so I can see whether a mod is 5hp or 30hp.
I completely understand that there's no reason to do these mods, that stock the Sonic (particularly the 1.4T, but even the 1.8) has plenty of power to move the little thing around smartly, at no added cost. If that's what you want (and honestly most car owners, that's exactly what they want, something to move them from point A to point B that's fun, handy, and cheap to operate) then there's no reason to do a single thing. Well, except maybe the tune. I mean, the stock tune is deliberately making your engine deliver less than it is capable of, due to corporate decisions. Oops, there's my hippie showing again.
